Reliability after swap? Options

[soltrain]

I'm sitting on the fence about purchasing a 94' celica st ($1300 w/no engine) and swapping the 3sgte. I've kinda priced out everything including the 183 clip, 153 tranny, new clutch, new axle, new fuel pump, FMIC and piping, rear brakes perhaps?

All and all + labor (I've got no experience) seems to be around 6-7k total.

As I am a poor college student, how reliable are your 3sgte swaps after they are completed? I haven't read much about anyone having any problems - hopefully everyone's doin fine?

I really enjoy driving, but I probably wont be driving around too much, grocerry shopping and the occasional road trips, so I'm not sure on if this is a good investment or not. Some of my friends have advised me to just buy a stock old school celica for 5k and be done with it.

Any advice from some old hands?

[Digndoug]

I dont have a swap, but I would say if you could get the car for 1000-1300 .. then another 4 for a swap.. do it.. I like my car.. I like how it drives an feels an all, and i would prolly want to keep my car if I had more power... IE having a swap.. If you get a celi, then get this one an do a swap.. cause really thats the only thing so far I have seen that 6gc's need is more power.. arh arh ahr....

[97sccelica]

3sgte's are known to hit 200k+ miles with out needing a rebuild

there is a guy on the mr2 forums that a while back was running 11's on a 192k mile engine with no problems

take care of it, and it will last, its still a toyota engine

[lagos]

soltrain, it sounds to me like an N/A celica would suit you better.

one of the things i miss about my 5sfe is the total piece of mind i had with it. i never worried about it breaking down or giving me any problesm.

with the 3sgte you get power and worry at the same time. anytime u hear a noise, you will question if you did something wrong when you swaped the motor. also, you will probably start to mod the 3sgte and as we all know, the more power you make, the more likely things like axels, tranny, clutch, intercooler piping (happened to me) will break.

also, there is a chance that youll get ripped off by your importer and get a blown engine. i know of at least one person that finished the swap, then had to take apart his whole motor and rebuild it, becasue someone sold him a blown motor.


having said that.... over all my 3sgte has been doing well. ive only driven it daily for about a month or so. only issues iv had are with my clutch making a strange high pitched sound when im driving (goes away when u press the clutch. i think its not enought lube on the throwout bearing or the master cylinder), one of my axels broke after 5min of driving (crappy autozone rebuilds), and one of my intercooler pipe clamps let go on me while driving.

This post has been edited by lagos: Aug 21, 2004 - 6:44 AM

[soltrain]

Oh man. Your beautiful piping?

One more thing I was concerned about was passing smog testing. I'm originally from MD but am now in California, where I hear that they have very strict smog rules.

The mechanic thought that the biggest problem would be the engine's ECU. According to smog, you have to have the same, or newer year ECU as your engine. The JDM ECU that would come with the swap wouldn't work because they can't look it up as a US part.

He mentioned that I would need to find a 94/95 MR2 ECU to put in so it would pass - didn't the MR2's stop in the us by 95?

[Rjb23]

No, MR2's are still being made. Maybe not 3sgte ones.

[soltrain]

Right, but to find an ECU that would work for the car (and for smog), I'd need a 94/95 MR2 ECU right? According to this (http://www.mr2ownersclub.com/statistics.asp) only 625 were made in 94 and 93 were made in 95! I was told using aftermarket ECUs would cause your car to not pass Cali smog.

How did all the other 6th gen california celi swaps pass smog? Everyone found shady smog checks?

This post has been edited by soltrain: Aug 21, 2004 - 6:21 PM

[lagos]

i dont think the ecu has anything to do with you passing smog or not.

most jdm motors are said to fail the visual part of the check becasue they do not come with an EGR system.

[soltrain]

Hmmm.. then, do most swappers stick an EGR system ontop of their JDM motor? Is it possible? I couldn't find 'EGR' on car-part.com..

[lagos]

no, you cant convert a jdm motor to have an egr.

my theory is this, as long as you have a normall size exhaust and have a cat, you should be able to pass the smog sniffer test. i doubt that most places even pop the hood during inspection. they just want to know if your smog readings are ok and if they can talk you into buying new brakes or tires while you are there for the inspection.

right before i took my 5sfe out, i took my car to a local midas shop. i told the guy to reinspect the car so that i could have new stickers so that i wouldnt have to worry about it for a full year. i told him that i was about to do a jdm motor swap and that it would probably not pass because of no egr or other smog issues. the guy at midas gave me his business card and said, dont waste your money now, just bring it to me when u need an inspection, ill pass you jdm motor.

after i finished my swap i brought the car to them to get a new midpipe installed...without me even asking, the guy removed my cat, and said "you dont need that crap" hahahaa... so the point im trying to make, is that if you just do the swap, im sure youll find a way to get inpection stickers too.

[celicasupra209]

HEY,

i guess my search and research on the engine swaaping a 3sgte didnt go to waste after all.

here are the cali 4 basic rule to engine swap.

1) must be a newer engine then the stock one (in your case at least a 94 3sgte)

2) no jdm motor replacement unless it is a direct replacement for the orignal stock motor (st motor 7afe). And if it is a jdm all egr system or whatever thing ma jig must be put on the jdm motor to make it smog legal (so the theory of you cant do its wrong you can. just dont know how havent research this much most peepo said they cant do it for you unless you have a head swap done us spec to jdm spec)

3)the engine must come from a similar weighted car.(thank good ness 3sgte are found in mr2 which are lighter but still meets standard)

4)i forgot the 4th one

to make this simple and plain explaination you cant put a jdm 3sgte in the car and be legal unless you use us-spec stuff to replace all the necessary part to make it legal you have better luck find a us-spec and pay 3-5g for it and then do the swap your self or pay a shop 2-4g to swap it for you.

but if your going jdm good luck in find a smog place who will only do the sniffer you wont past visual no matter what you do. if you plan on doing a 3sgte swap make sure it is us-spec you can locate one in New york they have a shop that offer low miles ones

this is your only option on the 3sgte swap!
or you can just build it as jdm and drive it illegally on the street i think you can do and be off road legal but not street legal..

another option is to put a 5sfe into that car and superchage it with the Rippsmodd supercharger (this my route im taking)
Edit
(Note: this supercharger will make your car as strong as a stock 3sgte KEYWORD STOCK)

This post has been edited by celicasupra209: Aug 24, 2004 - 1:53 PM